Chương 9: Level 9...

..

On the nature of the system: Based on how high levels (Danger Classification 3 or above) of mana can corrupt and mutate materials one theory as to why the system exists is to protect us from being mutated by mana in unwanted ways. By forcing our bodies to mutate in preset ways to accommodate skills or specializations the system prevents us from accidentally mutating into forms that are actively detrimental to our wellbeing.

There is a lesser-known theory that I subscribe to which is that all the humanoid Sapient races are mutated from one common ancestor. Sure, we can claim mutating into a beautiful elf wouldn't be that bad but what if the reverse was true? What if you mutated into a dirty little goblin with their grubby Lil mitts and rank ass smell- little more than a monster. Ahem, I for one would kill myself should that happen, and I recommend any who turn into a goblin involuntarily to do the same.

(and I spread this view proudly... it's not like goblins can read so unless one of you snitches, they will be none the wiser) This excerpt obtained from the posters distributed through remote villages by Pastor John. Retired scholar and newly christened member of the church of the system, one week before his mobbing death by angry goblin rights activists. May he rest in peace. Indecisive Earth settled into a routine focused on efficiency.

All he wanted to do was sit there experimenting and playing with his monsters but he had convinced himself that once he had expanded he would have a much higher regeneration and could make more monsters in a shorter amount of time... as long as he waited a bit first. His level-ups had been ahead of the curve, so he currently had a huge amount of storage with a regeneration similar to what he had started with...

Focusing on expanding using the exact amount of mana as he regenerated his expansion speed slowed down considerably but remained constant (and due to using less mana than he was capable of he managed to use it slightly more efficiently). Thus, his effective expansion was much higher in comparison to the fast deplete-refill cycles he had been using before... and as his regeneration kept ticking up, he increased the amount of mana he was rationing so the speed slowly increased as well.

Splitting his focus between expansion and reading the chat he reached a point where he realized all the older Tier 1 Cores were "always online" and reading the chat, while the noobies would join and then after talking for a few minutes would leave again for minutes to hours before rejoining. Abe formed his floor a day after Indecisive Earth despite having a head start and he enjoyed the reaction Abe gave to the splitting wrenching feeling once it reached him. Indecisive Earth: A weird feeling you say?

Strange strange I don't remember any such feeling. The whole process was quick and painless. Do you think maybe something is wrong? Are you dying? Abe: Seriously bro? You don't remember feeling this? I feel like I'm being twisted and stabbed and everything is spinning. Indecisive Earth: Yeah I estimate you have 10 minutes to live. Good luck my friend you will be missed. Abe: Noo make it stop.

Giving him time to panic then reminding him of all the ways he could speed the process up had entertained Indecisive Earth for a bit before he settled down again. Despite Abe's overbearing introduction, as the closest in age and skill – as well as having both taken a single specialization – he grew to be the only Core Indecisive Earth enjoyed talking to in his small chat.

Another day and the earthen golem died after wandering too close to one of the jumping death spawns and being smashed and flattened between it and the wall. The loss... had been slightly disappointing, to put it mildly. Just another sad addition, pushing the creation he had been so proud of initially further and further into "meh" territory. At least the death had given him some exciting insight – The Golem could see!

Every other monster he had made could somehow sense an enemy – or the vague shape of the walls – but this haphazard creation surrounding an Earth core had been able to see nearly everything in its surroundings similar to how the Dungeon Core could himself. Additionally, it had clearer thoughts than any of the monsters he had made so far, his new memories crisp and somewhat logical.

As a monster, he had been more effort than he was worth but in death, the golem had given a brief glimpse of the benefits adding a core to a monster could give. The only thing preventing this creature from being more impactful was how little it had actually done. The life contained in his memories was crisp and high resolution but uneventful up until his death... his quick boring death that gave zero experience despite the effort that went into him.

An added bonus happened, which was as soon as the Golem core was smashed against the wall and cracked, it released a pulse of somewhat chaotic Earth mana that blossomed into countless nubs and small balls formed from the stone. The polluted stone was obviously not ideal as he couldn't really work with it, but the act drastically increased the mana concentration in that area. With an increase in mana concentration, his mana regeneration had actually ticked up by 0. 2/min – in comparison to the steady 0.

1 ticks he had been receiving from expansion. I... I think I've been gung-ho over expanding for no reason at all. Expanding is important but not to the point of forgoing experimentation if my goal is mana regen. Enlightened, he had confirmed that the mana density also affected his regen, not just the amount of space he had claimed. Just in time too! For his Expansion was growing slower and slower as he got further away from his core. His initial luxuriously sized hallways were going to need to be expanded.

And he would if he wanted to leave enough flow for his control to reach the edge of his influence – he did – giving him as much "influence responsiveness" as he wanted. He had actually stopped expanding slightly earlier than he had planned initially – his idea had been to form a third floor and then push for his last level by throwing a few things together. While he felt he was close he hadn't yet been able to form the 3rd and final floor he needed to advance. I think I have enough space for it now...

I just need to work on increasing the mana density for the splitting process to start. Releasing his focus from expanding he felt a cool relief fill his whole influence. He couldn't get tired physically but the strain of constantly pushing outwards had drained him more than he realized and even a small break was a relief of sorts. Currently, he was at level 8, at just over 2 weeks old. His levelling had been somewhat sporadic, with many jumps pushing his level to higher and higher heights.

Currently, his level was 2 above Abe's – and they were nearly the same age – indicating either he was levelling faster than most, or Abe was a slowpoke. Additionally, while he was admittedly not completely there yet, he was close to level 9 at only 2 weeks. Amy and Xero had advanced at nearly a month's time from their birth so the theory that Abe was slow seemed kind of unfounded. Indecisive tried (and failed) to not let that fact get to his head. I'm Great. I'm the best.

A certified Geniu- Continuing to sing unwarranted praise to himself the young Core lost direction for a bit. Only stopping his gross display of ego after feeling more and more silly for boasting to one of his jumpers – who did not seem impressed in the slightest. Sheepishly collecting himself he returned to a more grounded state of mind before deciding what to do next. I'm going to try and make a better golem... I have a bit more mana to work with now so I'm sure I can start trying to make better versions.

First working on making a core he found a small room that didn't have any discerning feature naming it his new experiment room. Pulling out Iron and mana he formed a ball of low mana iron and then steadily pushed more and more Earth mana into it. Partway through he suddenly wanted to try it with Crystal mana instead – but when he tried pushing some into the already infused material the new type of mana just slid off and twisted out of his grip, falling to the ground and forming a weird crack.

Tch Returning to infusing the ball with straight Earth mana the concentration visibly soared. Indecisive Earth waited until it reached the point where wisps of smokey mana were constantly released, then he sealed the new core and checked its design. A solid sphere much like the last – maybe a slight bit bigger due to having more mana to work with (but not to any degree that would matter) – sat in the center of the room.

Working off a different concept from before he wrapped the core in metal strengthened with Earth mana slowly building a sort of cone with a rounded top. Continuing to build the body's frame he decided to try and give his new monster's limbs some support. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. First, he made several rounded cylinders, each a sort of stretched-out bean shape.

Placing them against the side of his golem's body he punched a hole through each of them and ran a ring from the frame, threading it through the limb and reattaching to the body on the other side. Leaving them in place, he then pulled the beans back and forth, watching as they remained secured to its center. Okay, it's secure, any way to increase movement? Unsure as to exactly how much force could be exerted through them, but wanting them to be useful for the monster, he continued to add lumpy legs.

Three to a side he placed them, then tried to think of another appendage he could add. How about a spike on the front? No, I already did that with the worms. How about something that can come crashing down? Hmmm, that's an idea. The Dungeon Core had received a dictionary of sorts when he was first born. Words and vague senses of what those words mean were gifted for some unknown reason at the start of the tutorial. So, he did know about arms in a sense...

along with the knowledge that intelligent creatures had them – usually in pairs. However... due to having never seen one in action, he wasn't quite sure how to go about making one from scratch. Likewise, he knew about the idea of legs however hadn't quite figured out that they needed joints to increase their mobility. He kind of imagined legs like wriggling noodles that bent all along their lengths similar to his worms... which he couldn't currently make because Earth mana solidified everything it touched.

An embarrassing mistake that's completely understandable having not come across a single living animal so far and having only slightly grasped the concept of bones with his "worms" he didn't quite picture limbs being constrained. This misunderstanding was one that would take him quite a bit longer to "fix." Having observed how the rings acted for the legs he started placing a huge ring around the top of his new monster.

Thick and much more pronounced the ring extended out above the creature, instead of being a small ring mostly sunk into the body. Balancing a long stumpy pole on top of it he tried to make something that could fall quickly while not toppling the monster. Tapering off the end into a point that pointed downwards made the whole appendage even more intimidating.

While increasing the weight by compressing and placing a large lump on the other side let his monster gain a formidable – though constrained in movement – limb. Hah, it will come trundling around a corner and then stab downwards skewering the unwary from head to toe- marvellously gruesome... I'm sure people will love them. Still unaware of scale his monster might be able to work how he wanted if the adventurer in question was a Gremlin...

his monster maintained a fearsome spike that no doubt could deal damage but due to its size would only be able to stab someone's shins – or pulling it up to its full height and not releasing it- someone's knees. Looking over his monster every which way he studied the design trying to find fault with it – he couldn't: it was beautiful. Pushing a spark towards it eagerly, it – much like the last time he used a core – was sucked all the way to its center rather than sinking into the whole creature.

This time the golem sat there rustling quietly as if observing itself. Finishing it slowly rose up off the floor with all 6 of its limbs shaking slightly as they held its weight. One by one, they shifted forwards and the monster seemed to waddle over to the wall swaying from side to side and occasionally stumbling. hmmm... It's kinda' slow. Situating itself by the entrance his new monster seemed to sense his disappointment and wanted to prove his worth.

Peering around the corner it spied a worm trundling along and – waiting patiently – it positioned its stabby mandible of death high above it. As soon as the worm was in range the trap was sprung – the golem stabbing downwards and turning with satisfaction as soon as the worm was punctured. Alright, you're not that bad lil' Gol. You can stay... Already done more than that failure of a big brother you had. He tried to figure out how to improve the legs.

Waiting for his mana to fill up once again took only 15 minutes so he waited till his tank was full. Started to pull bits of material out of his inventory and prototyping different ways to connect them but still allow movement was his next task. Giving up on the ring connection (unaware of how close to wheels he had gotten) he made several rods tipped by a large ball and started making sockets in the base of a new body by enveloping each ball 3/4ths of the way down.

Working off the idea that "more is better" he kept adding more and more socketed legs to his Mark 3 Golem. The previous version had ended up similar to an ambush predator but due to its somewhat clanky metal on stone, it wasn't able to sneak up on anything. It was also much too top-heavy and wobbled too much when walking around. Flaring out the base more, this version was close to half the height and double the width of its older brother.

Sticking the same stabbing arm on top he arced it slightly longer, so it had both an increased range and increased height then conferring a spark to his creation he tried to compare it to its predecessor. GolV2 was slightly more graceful than its predecessor. Seeming to glide along the ground its dozens of legs moved in a wave as it skittered making a loud pittering clinking sound as it did so. Not a stealth monster either I see.

Bullying its weaker predecessor out of the way it too sat in the doorway before skewering a worm in a fluid motion and tossing it to its behind. Re arming itself it stabbed a second worm that had slithered up to check on the noise before turning around triumphantly. The two drop golems situated themselves on opposite sides of the entrance making a competition of who could skewer more.... alright then. I guess I need to repopulate.

Grumbling slightly, he worked his way further back and started spawning his most iterated worm monsters two at a time. You guys are letting me down you know I was rooting for you! Slightly sad he couldn't figure out how to put an earth core into them – He was heavily relying on Liquid metal for their bodies, and that was made using Water mana, which would become inert when attached to the core. Trying to figure out how to buff them he stared up and down their streamlined shape.

Finally, he decided simply to make it bigger. Mama worm! Tripling its diameter and then quadrupling its length he made each of them nearly 10cm wide and a meter long... his new worm could really not be called such any longer. More a snake at this point his creation was slowly improved as he grew it – at this size, the rings really really needed his previous supports to allow them to maintain their strength and he was forced to thicken them once again.

Pulling out all the stops he continued to tweak the design of one of his first monsters so that it could maintain its position in his dungeon. As it grew it became harder to keep the liquid metal in place – the Water mana liquified the metal but let it keep a sort of skin that held it up and kept it in a bubble... however the larger a ball he made, the flatter it got. Even when he wrapped it in an ectoplasmic sac it bulged outwards more and more, the bigger he tried to make it.

Looking through all his materials and trying to figure out how to keep its form he settled on covering the body completely in slivers of interlocking crystals. Using "Crystal mana and silicon" chips embedded into the ectoplasm skin he layered them in interlocking patterns that spread down the length of the whole monster. This process was tedious and took much more finesse than his previous versions – he had to use all his concentration in a non-split manner to form them quickly and cover the entire length...

but he really liked the end result, so he kept at it. I really want to boost this one's strength... Being able to see would be the best but an earth core won't work... How is something defined as a core? What if I just add pockets of higher mana density material into it? Trying something he had put aside he made the spikey cone for his new snake but specifically tried to make it differently. First pushing unattributed mana into a smaller cone, he kept adding it until his mana got dangerously low.

This monster has used nearly a full mana pool now... the hallmark of a good creature. He nodded to himself. Waiting patiently, he held everything in place until he regenerated enough mana to continue. Trying again he pushed more and more raw mana into the cone until – much much later than his Earth core had – the material started to visibly release mana. Surrounding it in a cone of Earth mana he stuck it on the end of his creation. – Perfect Let's see how this works.

He had a good feeling about his crystal snake – for the scales really drove home how crystalline the snake was and the size removed it from worm status. Each scale glinted in its own glow and reflecting a kaleidoscope of muted disco ball lights on the ground around it. Pushing a spark to the creature he waited and watched as the spark flew to its spiked head. Moments later the snake raised its head slowly from the ground and swayed back and forth slowly.

Content with its surroundings the new monster started to patrol his hallways stopping every few minutes to examine stuff before continuing. Curious, Indecisive Earth spawned a fire slime further down the hallway. Immediately a bunch of the surrounding worms rushed it in anger stabbing it into the ground while the snake watched. It seemed amused and made no move to help them- watching as its distant relatives swarmed and dispersed afterwards once they were positive the slime was well and truly dead.

I was hoping you could show your stuff: (Thinking, he asked the snake to go find some of his jumpers. Swivelling its head up, the snake seemed to listen, then acknowledged his request, moving further down his hallway. Spying one of the creatures on a far wall, the snake observed its prey carefully before engaging. Moving out slowly as if oblivious the snake baited his jumper into pouncing, then jerked its whole body sideways just out of the way. Wrapping its scaly length around the creature to hold it in place, the snake raised its sharp head and stabbed both the jumper's legs. Watching as metallic blood leaked out onto the ground it continued to hold the jumper until its prey had expired. Seeming contemptuous with how easy that had been the snake proceeded to constrict and crush the shell of its prey before releasing a crumpled mess and flicking the bits of blood off its head. Oh, Oh you're really good. I'm going to name you... Sslay... Snek... I'm going to name you Silver. Confirming his name, the snake resumed its original patrol. The task complete Indecisive Earth Checked his status. Level 9 already! Now all I have to do is finish my 3rd floor and I can positively feel how close that is. Indecisive Earth Level 9 2/190 exp to next level. System Access Level 1 1/2 requirements met to advance. -3+ Floors -Level 9+ ✓ Stats Mana Regeneration 6. 7 unit/min Mana Storage 16. 8/190. 0 units Physical Storage 54% units Titles. Earth Mana Specialization